Battlestar Galactica: This is really a love story.

Last week on Battlestar Galactica, Gaeta and Zarek were taking over Galactica, President Roslin was fleeing the ship and Adama with Tigh were attacked with a hand grenade.

Adama and Tigh survive the explosion but is stunned by the effects and captured. Tigh is taken to the brig with the rest of the Cylons. Adama is taken to CIC to Gaeta. A smug Gaeta talks down to Adama and tries to get him to order Roslin to surrender. Adama pulls off his Admiral pins and tells Gaeta to do his own dirty work.

Meanwhile, as Roslin tries to make it to the Cylon rebel basestar, she is pursed by Hot Dog and Narcho. Narcho orders Hot Dog to destroy Roslin’s raptor but he stalls enough for Roslin to board the basestar. They Cylons are frantic because they don’t understand why they are being fired upon. Baltar tells them that Adama is a fugitive, Gaeta has an army and Zarek is in control. This makes the Cylons nervous. They want to cut their losses and jump away. Before Gaeta can fire upon the basestar, the Cylons move it within the fleet for cover.

They need a pimp.

Gaeta insists that Adama get a trial. They take Romo Lampkin into armed custody and force him to “defend” Adama in his court martial. Romo finds out that Adama is accused of treason, desertion, giving aid and comfort to the enemy and gross dereliction of duty. The punishment is death by firing squad. When Romo asks why he has to be involved Gaeta tells him it’s for “justice”. When Romo asks for a panel of judges, Zarek says that he will be judge because they captains are busy defending their ships from Cylons. Romo asks for some time to consult with his client. Respecting his authority as a lawyer, Gaeta and Zarek leave. Alone, Romo tries to get Adama to rollover and sign the testimony. Adama refuses. Romo leans in and whispers to Adama that his people are mobilizing. He tells Adama to stall as long as he can. The guards get suspicious and take Romo from the room.

Zarek addresses the Quorum of Twelve and tries to win their support. He wants them to recognize him as president and join in his fight. Because they weren’t aware of Zarek’s extreme ambition, they dismiss him by telling him to leave and making a point to call him vice-president. Zarek leaves the room and orders the guards to kill all 12 of the Quorum members. Later, Gaeta sees the carnage and is outraged. He says that murder wasn’t part of the deal. Gaeta believes that prior to the murders that they had truth on their side. Zarek tells him that the truth is told by who ever is left standing. Gaeta is starting to feel cracks in his plan. There are also soldiers on Gaeta’s side, mainly Aaron, who are starting to feel that the Gaeta/Zarek coup comes at too high a cost. Aaron comes across Tyrol who has been crawling around in the shafts and tubes of the ship. Aaron wants to kill Tyrol but lets him go.

The pen is mightier than the gun.

Lee and Starbuck get into a successful shoot out with the guards in front of the cell holding Tigh, Sam, Caprica Six, Sharon Agathon, Helo and Hera. All of the guards are killed and the prisoners are freed. They hear soldiers coming for them and have to flee quickly. It wasn’t fast enough because Sam Anders is shot in the neck. Starbuck tells the others to go ahead without her and that she will stay with Sam. The soldier escorting Romo back to his quarters spots Starbuck and Sam. They get into a shouting match. Romo uses this opportunity to stab the soldier in the neck with the pen that he stole from Zarek. Starbuck asks Romo to help her get Sam to Dr. Cottle. Romo refuses at first then uncharacteristically helps her in the end.

President Roslin manages to broadcast a message to the fleet. She tells them that Gaeta is a mutineer and asks all captains to shut down their FTL drives. Gaeta interrupts the transmission before she can say anything more. Because of Roslin’s plea, ten out of 35 captains disabled their FTL drives. It’s not a lot of support but enough to make Gaeta want to jump away from the basestar.

Zarek declares Adama guilty and Gaeta orders Narcho to assemble an execution squad. The audience sees Adama being executed but it turns out to be just a nightmare of Baltar’s. He wakes after a hot and heavy lovemaking session with Six, Baltar admits that he came to the Cylon basestar to get a way from his flock of followers. He says that he is annoyed by them and tired of their adoration. Even though he resents them, he tells Six that he has to go back to them because they are his responsibility.

The dream sequence is the only thing that is not real about the order of execution. As Narcho assembles the execution squad, Zarek gets a call about Tigh’s escape. Instead of telling Adama that Tigh escaped, Zarek tells Adama that Tigh was killed.

I’m coming for all of you!

Roslin manages to find another way to broadcast to the fleet. She demands that Gaeta returns command to Adama then gives them five minutes to comply. Gaeta goes to Adama’s office, stands at Adama’s desk and gives the order to execute Adama over the phone. Unbeknownst to Gaeta, Narcho acknowledges this order at gun point. Lee and Tigh rescue Adama just in time to save him from execution. Adama sees that Tigh is alive and is visibly happy to see his old friend; Cylon or not. Believing that Adama is dead, Zarek addresses the President. He tells her that Tigh was killed and that because Adama was found guilty, he was executed. Roslin is enraged with fury and vengeance. She tells Zarek that she will use everything within her power to bring him down.

Gaeta readies Galactica to jump. It is now clear that Tyrol has been sneaking around the ship and crawling through tubes so that he could disable the FTL drives. Tyrol has to physically pull out a component to take the FTL drives offline. There also appeared to be a breach in the hull in the drive room. If they FTL drive had gone online, it appears as if Galactica could have been severely damaged.

As a newly freed Adama walks the halls of Galactica, soldiers fall in line behind him in greater and greater numbers with each step to the CIC.

Galactica secure!

When Gaeta sees that the FTL drives are offline, he stops responding to everything. He freezes up. He won’t launch an attack. He won’t respond to Zarek yelling at him to act. In one last act of sanity, Gaeta calls for a weapons hold. He doesn’t want anymore death.

Adama retakes the CIC, calls the basestar to tell Roslin to stand down. As soldiers take Zarek and Gaeta to a holding cell, Adama welcomes Roslin back to Galactica. She is relieved to see that Adama is really alive. They embrace for what is a very emotional and tender moment.

Baltar has a last minute heart to heart with Gaeta. They talk about his childhood and what he liked to do as a child. Gaeta ends the conversation with a curious remark. He says, “People will realize, eventually, who I am.” Baltar tells Gaeta that he knows who he is.

Adama kept to his word of no forgiveness. Zarek and Gaeta are put in front of a firing squad. Just as Adama calls for the firing squad to pull the trigger, Gaeta noticed that his amputated leg has finally stopped itching.

This is the Battlestar Galactica episode that I’ve been waiting on. This is the Battlestar Galactica that we all know and love. Richard Hatch, Alessandro Juliani, Mary McDonnell and Edward James Olmos performed amazingly. Mary McDonnell brought out a level of fury in the President that I’ve never seen before. If Gaeta hadn’t have stood down, I think she would have snatched is prosthetic leg from him and beat him with it.

What does Gaeta mean by “People will realize, eventually, who I am.”? Does it mean anything or is it the incessant babble of a mad man?

I like that I was still conflicted about Gaeta and Zarek right up until they started killing people. We all know that Zarek was pulled out of prison to be a politician in the fleet but I thought that he’d reformed. I seriously didn’t see him ruthlessly killing to get his way. I guess that I am naïve like Gaeta just not as crazy. How exactly did Gaeta think any of this was going to end? I love how calm and defiant Adama is the whole time. It seems as if he knew everything would work to his favor.

Richard Hatch does evil so well. He is so calm and calculating. Not insanely ridiculous like Baltar just ruthless and cold. I still can’t tell if he really believed in what he was doing or if he just wanted power. What would a Gaeta/Zarek administration look like? I guess we’ll never know. Also, from the viewer standpoint out in non-reality land, the Quorum of Twelve were obnoxious and I’m glad we are rid of them.

I’m not sure but I think this is the first time that I’ve seen the FTL drives in action. We always get CGI of battle scenes but never the inner workings of the ship. I have to say that it is quite a sexy piece of work.

6 Responses

Great recap. BSG has gone down the tubes in my opinion, but this was one of the better episoded in a while. I have felt like I have to finish watching the show to see how it all plays out, but lately it’s been brutal to watch. I hope the end it well.

Hee. Tyrol as an intergalactic John McClane, crawling through the duct system to save the ship. I wanted him to mutter “yippie kai-ai, motherfrakkers,” as he pulled the FTL drive out with his bare hands. (Yes, I referenced Die Hard.)

My quibble, now that I’ve had the weekend to think it over, is that I wish we had gotten more of Zarek’s backstory; what motivated him to do the things he did? Richard Hatch saw him as a Mandela-like figure, someone that fought tirelessly for democracy. He obviously was not seen that way by the audience, though.

I thought this was an excellent episode. It really demonstrates how miserable the situation has gotten for the people in the fleet. They really are on their last legs and making extreme decisions as a result. Something that was cleared up for me was the whole cult of Baltar thing. It really seemed cheesy with the worship of this character, but he always saw it as a fan club that he could use in a selfish way. That made sense.

What’s impressive is that the writer’s made me cheer more for Gaeta and Zarek against the Cylons, and Lee/Starbuck/Adama.

I knew they wouldn’t win, but I wouldn’t side with the Cylons either, so I was glad to them go down with a fight. The last smile between Zarek and Gaeta was a huge moment. They didn’t give in; they believed in what they were doing.